The retreating police unleashed a hail of rubber bullets on protesters as plumes of acrid smoke billowed into the air amid the explosions of stun grenades.

The lobby of the Ukraina hotel overlooking the square was turned into an impromptu morgue, with the bodies of seven dead protesters laying side by side under white sheets on the marble floor in front of the reception desk.

Eyewitnesses confirm #Ukraine protesters have retaken some #euromaidan territory lost yesterday. Many injured.

An AFP photographer saw spent live cartridge shells littering the ground on the square. It was unclear who had used the ammunition.

The main government building nearby was evacuated while lawmakers ended a session of parliament early after the violence.

The country’s three main opposition leaders put the blame for the fresh unrest on the authorities, calling it a “planned provocation.’’

The clashes shattered a truce that Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych had called late Wednesday in response to a spurt of violence that killed more than two dozen people in less than two days.

Yanukovych was holding crisis talks with the foreign ministers of EU powers France and Germany along with Poland ahead of an emergency meeting in Brussels at which the European Union was expected to impose sanctions against Ukrainian government officials for the unrest.

photo galleryViolent Clashes Rock Kiev

Violent Clashes Rock Kiev1 of 16

Anti-government protesters look on during clashes with riot police outside Ukraine's parliament in Kiev, Ukraine, Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2014. Some thousands of angry anti-government protesters clashed with police in a new eruption of violence Tuesday. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)2 of 16

Anti-government protesters clash with the police during their storming of Independence Square in Kiev on February 18, 2014. Flames engulfed the main anti-government protest camp on Independence Square on Tuesday as riot police tried to force demonstrators out following the bloodiest clashes in three months of protests. AFP PHOTO/ GENYA SAVILOV3 of 16

Opposition demonstrators stand in front of burning barricades during clashes with police in Kiev on February 18, 2014. Opposition leader Vitali Klitschko on Tuesday urged women and children to leave the opposition's main protest camp on Kiev's Independence Square, known as Maidan, as riot police massed nearby. AFP PHOTO / PIERO QUARANTA4 of 16

Policemen try to avoid flames from molotov cocktails during clashes with anti-government protesters in front of the Ukrainian Parliament in Kiev on February 18, 2014. AFP PHOTO/ ANATOLII STEPANOV5 of 16

Anti-government protesters clash with the police during their storming of Independence Square in Kiev on February 18, 2014. Flames engulfed the main anti-government protest camp on Independence Square on Tuesday as riot police tried to force demonstrators out following the bloodiest clashes in three months of protests. AFP PHOTO/ SERGEI SUPINSKY6 of 16

Policeman evacuate a wounded colleague during clashes with anti-government protesters in Kiev on February 18, 2014. Ukrainian anti-government protestors on Tuesday took back control of Kiev's city hall following bloody clashes with riot police just two days after vacating the building. AFP PHOTO/ ANATOLII STEPANOV7 of 16

Riot police aim at anti-government protesters during clashes in central Kiev on February 18, 2014. Police on Febraury 18 began an assault on the main anti-government protest camp in Kiev after a day of bloody clashest. AFP PHOTO/ ANATOLII BOIKO8 of 16

Anti-government demonstrators stand on barricades during clashes with riot police in Kiev on February 18, 2014. AFP PHOTO / SANDRO MADDALENA10 of 16

A young anti-government protester takes part in clash with police in Kiev on February 18, 2014. Police on Tuesday fired rubber bullets at stone-throwing protesters as they demonstrated close to Ukraine's parliament in Kiev. AFP PHOTO/ ANDREW KRAVCHENKO11 of 16

Anti-government protesters clash with riot police in central Kiev on February 18, 2014. Police on February 18 began an assault on the main anti-government protest camp in Kiev after a day of bloody clashes. AFP PHOTO/ ANATOLII BOIKO13 of 16

A photo taken on Febraury 18, 2014 shows a riot police whose helmet is burning, shielding himself during clashes with anti-government protesters in central Kiev. AFP PHOTO/GENYA SAVILOV14 of 16

Anti-government protesters clash with the police during their storming of Independence Square in Kiev on February 18, 2014. AFP PHOTO/ SERGEI SUPINSKY15 of 16

Anti-government protesters clash with police in Kiev on February 18, 2014. Police on Tuesday fired rubber bullets at stone-throwing protesters as they demonstrated close to Ukraine's parliament in Kiev. AFP PHOTO/ ANATOLII STEPANOV16 of 16

Anti-government protesters clash with the police during their storming of Independence Square in Kiev on February 18, 2014. Flames engulfed the main anti-government protest camp on Independence Square on Tuesday as riot police tried to force demonstrators out following the bloodiest clashes in three months of protests. AFP PHOTO/ GENYA SAVILOV

Opposition demonstrators stand in front of burning barricades during clashes with police in Kiev on February 18, 2014. Opposition leader Vitali Klitschko on Tuesday urged women and children to leave the opposition's main protest camp on Kiev's Independence Square, known as Maidan, as riot police massed nearby. AFP PHOTO / PIERO QUARANTA

Policemen try to avoid flames from molotov cocktails during clashes with anti-government protesters in front of the Ukrainian Parliament in Kiev on February 18, 2014. AFP PHOTO/ ANATOLII STEPANOV

Anti-government protesters clash with the police during their storming of Independence Square in Kiev on February 18, 2014. Flames engulfed the main anti-government protest camp on Independence Square on Tuesday as riot police tried to force demonstrators out following the bloodiest clashes in three months of protests. AFP PHOTO/ SERGEI SUPINSKY

Policeman evacuate a wounded colleague during clashes with anti-government protesters in Kiev on February 18, 2014. Ukrainian anti-government protestors on Tuesday took back control of Kiev's city hall following bloody clashes with riot police just two days after vacating the building. AFP PHOTO/ ANATOLII STEPANOV

Riot police aim at anti-government protesters during clashes in central Kiev on February 18, 2014. Police on Febraury 18 began an assault on the main anti-government protest camp in Kiev after a day of bloody clashest. AFP PHOTO/ ANATOLII BOIKO

A young anti-government protester takes part in clash with police in Kiev on February 18, 2014. Police on Tuesday fired rubber bullets at stone-throwing protesters as they demonstrated close to Ukraine's parliament in Kiev. AFP PHOTO/ ANDREW KRAVCHENKO

Anti-government protesters clash with riot police in central Kiev on February 18, 2014. Police on February 18 began an assault on the main anti-government protest camp in Kiev after a day of bloody clashes. AFP PHOTO/ ANATOLII BOIKO

A photo taken on Febraury 18, 2014 shows a riot police whose helmet is burning, shielding himself during clashes with anti-government protesters in central Kiev. AFP PHOTO/GENYA SAVILOV

Anti-government protesters clash with the police during their storming of Independence Square in Kiev on February 18, 2014. AFP PHOTO/ SERGEI SUPINSKY

Anti-government protesters clash with police in Kiev on February 18, 2014. Police on Tuesday fired rubber bullets at stone-throwing protesters as they demonstrated close to Ukraine's parliament in Kiev. AFP PHOTO/ ANATOLII STEPANOV

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The US State Department had earlier announced slapping travel bans on about 20 senior Kiev government figures over fighting that killed at least 28 people on same central Kiev square on Tuesday night.

Yanukovych has appeared to struggle to formulate a clear policy over a frantic 48 hours that saw Ukraine’s deadliest violence since independence and an escalating Cold War-like war of words between the West and former master Moscow over the future of the country sandwiched between Russia and the European Union.

AFP reporters said they saw the bodies of at least 25 protesters with apparent gunshot wounds around two popular Independence Square hotels and lying outside the central Kiev post office on Thursday.

Ukraine’s interior ministry said that one policeman died from gunshot wounds sustained in the clashes while 29 officers had been injured.

News_Image_File: Death toll ... A man covers a protester, killed in clashes with police, with a flag. Picture: Efrem Lukatsky

The latest deaths bring to at least 54 the number of people killed in Ukraine since the start of the week, according to health ministry and AFP counts.

Ukraine’s crisis was initially ignited by Yanukovych’s shock decision in November to ditch an historic EU trade and political association agreement in favour of closer ties with Kiev’s historic masters in the Kremlin.

But it has since evolved into a much broader anti-government movement that has swept through both the pro-Western west of the country as well as parts of its more Russified east and exposed the deep historical fault lines between the two.

Yanukovych had appeared determined on Wednesday to end the crisis by force after the country’s security services announced plans to launch a sweeping “anti-terror’’ operation.

He also sacked the army’s top general - a powerful figure lauded by the opposition for refusing to back the use of force against those who had come out on the street.

But he then received three top protest leaders and told them he would take no immediate action against those who have taken to the streets against his rule, including charismatic boxer-turned-lawmaker Vitali Klitschko.

News_Image_File: Keeping up their barricade ... a protester throws tyres to keep a barricade of flames between protesters and police at Independence Square in Kiev. Picture: AFP

US President Barack Obama urged the government Wednesday to refrain from using violence against peaceful protesters and warned of “consequences’’ if any further abuses take place.

News_Image_File: Fighting through the fire ... an anti-government protester takes part in clashes with the police on Independence Square in Kiev. Picture: AFP

The crackdown on protesters triggered a storm of condemnation from the West while the Kremlin denounced an “attempted coup’’ by the demonstrators.

The US State Department announced it was imposing visa bans on about 20 senior Ukrainian officials”complicit in or responsible for ordering or otherwise directing human rights abuses.’’

News_Rich_Media: As dawn breaks in Kiev, protesters take to Instagram after a long night of riots and fires.

Protesters calling for the president to step down have vowed to stay on and called on the public to join them in their fight.

The protest began in November after President Yanukovych backed out of a historically-agreedtrade pact with the EU in favour of $16.7 billion financial bailout and closer ties to Russia. That bailout has since stalled because one condition from Moscow was that opposition to the deal be quickly extinguished.

Russia has branded the protest which on Tuesday attracted 20,000 supporters into the central square an attempted coup d’etat created by “conniving” Western politicians from the EU.

Western pressure was set to mount still further on Thursday when the European Union considers its own measures during a meeting in Brussels, with France saying ahead of the meeting that the bloc would prepare sanctions against those responsible for the violence.

Moscow meanwhile has issued a string of outraged comments condemning both the protesters and the West.

President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman placed all responsibility for the unprecedented violence on “extremists (whose) actions can be seen and are seen in Moscow exclusively as an attempted coup d’etat’’.

Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev told Russia’s cabinet on Thursday that Moscow intended to follow through on its commitment to issue the next tranche of a $15 billion bailout that Putin and Yanukovych agreed shortly after Kiev rejected the EU pact.

News_Rich_Media: After a deadly day of protests, the Ukrainian government calls protest "an attempt to seize power." Meanwhile, other countries are calling for sanctions. Nathan Frandino reports.

But Medvedev said Moscow needs “partners who are in good shape and for the authorities that work in Ukraine to be legitimate and effective.’’